Summary of Results for the  1999 Oregon Youth Risk Behavior Survey Serious Life-Threatening Problems For Adolescents  Subjected to Anti-Homosexual Harassment

I was first exposed to the hatred felt by many against gay individuals while growing up in a very small city, in southern Ontario. I was 13, and in grade eight at the time, and a new kid in school was labeled a "faggot" by the "in crowd" for no apparent reason. This was my first introduction to both the definition of the word, and to the fear that I slowly developed for anyone whom I suspected of being gay.

Adolescent suicide related to anti-gay harassment? Yes, but if the boy who killed himself was also having problems with being homosexually oriented - which is not known - his parents highly negative attitudes with respect to possibly having had a "gay" son may have factored into the boy's death:

Murders associated with Anti-gay harassment? Boys who don't conform to a set standard of masculine behavior and appearance -- who don't play contact sports, for example, or who are short or slight -- risk being ostracized as "sissies" or, more explicitly, "faggots."

Silence is the Voice of Complicity: Addressing Homophobia in Schools (1999)
Kevin Jenings  

Murders associated with Anti-gay harassment? Re: Charles Andrew Williams and schooting shotting at San Diego's Santana High School. "'They were teasing him, calling him 'country boy.' He didn't dress right; he didn't look right. He was skinny. They called him gay,' she said. ...Referring to a study of U.S. middle and high school students commissioned by the American Association of University Women (AAUW), a GLSEN report concluded, 'For boys, no other type of harassment provoked as strong a reaction on average; boys in this study would be less upset about physical abuse than they would be if someone called them gay.'" (By Dozetos) - "The gunmen in at least five of the major school shootings -- those from Moses Lake, WA; Pearl, MS; West Paducah, KY; Littleton, CO and now Santee, CA -- were reported to have been targets of anti-gay harassment... While we do not know whether anti-gay teasing was a motivating factor here, studies do show that among boys no other type of harassment, including actual physical abuse, provokes as strong a reaction as being called 'gay' at school. The alienating and well-documented effects of anti-gay harassment take a toll -- regardless of the target's sexual orientation." (GLSEN Executive Director Kevin Jennings.) (Reference: Goldstein, Richard (1999). The 'Faggot' Factor. Orange County Weekly, May 21-27.)

Contents

Table 1 - 1999 Oregon YRBS Result Summary For Males & Females (Grades 9 to 12): Harassment Based on Perceived Homosexual Orientation of Individuals: Associations with Depression & Suicide Behaviors.

Table 2 - 1999 Oregon YRBS Result Summary For Males (Grades 9 to 12): Harassment Based on Perceived Homosexual Orientation of Individuals: Associations with Depression & Suicide Behaviors.

Table 3 - 1999 Oregon YRBS Result Summary For Females (Grades 9 to 12): Harassment Based on Perceived Homosexual Orientation of Individuals: Associations with Depression & Suicide Behaviors.

A Section on Homosexuality-Related Bullying Prepared for a New Web Page on GLB Suicide Problems in England, Scotland, and Ireland, with references illustrating that similar abuse is also rampant in Australia.

Note - Statistical Results were generated using SPSS-10 and the  2X2 table available at - http://www.quantitativeskills.com/sisa/statistics/twoby2.htm - on the basis of the data set received from Oregon. Unweighted data was used, but results vary little from what they would be if weighted data was used. Some of the data was obtained from the 1999 Youth Risk Behavior "Summary Report" (PDF Download available, Archive Link) (High School Data).  All YRBS data may be accessed via Index Page: - http://www.dhs.state.or.us/publichealth/chs/yrbsdata.cfm N/A (Archive Link)  and the results are accessed via the title "Harassment at School." On this page, the PDF version of the Oregon health Division Newsletter reporting the 1999 YRBS data / results for Grade 9 to 12 may be accessed. The URL is: - http://www.ohd.hr.state.or.us/chs/newsltr/trends57.pdf N/A Archive Link. Youth Risk Behavior Questions (PDF Download N/A Archive Link).

The depression / suicidality results for the Middle School 1999 YRBS data set has not been made publicly available. Homophobia tends to be more severe in Middle Schools and the negative results of being subjected to anti-gay harassment may be worse than the ones calculated herein for high school students.

Commentary - Had the authorities in Oregon included "sexual orientation" questions, as originally intended to produce the 1999 Oregon YRBS data set,  the study data would have been the most complete in terms of revealing to what degree "The Homosexuality Factor" is associated with suicide problems for male adolescents in American public schools. As is, however, the only fact known is that about 31% of male suicide attempters, 35% of multiple attempters, and and 33% of male suicide attempters who received treatment as the result of their attempt, were in the group of males reporting being harassed (8.2% of males) because they were assumed to be homosexual or bisexual (Table 1). Their odds of attempting suicide are 5-times greater than they are for males not harassed for this reason. Had "sexual Orientation" information been solicited, the representation of "The Homosexuality Factor" in male adolescent suicide problems in Oregon would be known to be much higher than 30 to 35 percent reported in 2 suicide attempt categories. It is likely that "The Homosexuality Factor" is implicated in more than 50% of the most serious adolescent male suicide problems for reasons rendered in a new paper: The Social Construction of Male Homosexuality and Related Suicide problems: Research Proposals for the Twenty First Century. The paper explains why the higher risk for adolescent male suicide problems reported on this web page could also be called "the sissy factor in male youth suicide problems."

Female Adolescents: In this study, female adolescents targeted for anti-homosexual harassment have likelihoods for suicide behaviors, compared to other females, not as high as the difference in likelihoods for suicide behaviors between males targeted for anti-gay harassment and other males. For females, such harassment is associated with about 14 percent of suicide attempts, and 19 to 20 of females who are repeat suicide attempters and attempters for whom the suiicde attempt was assoicated with having received medical attention (Table 1).

Question 28: "During the past 12 months, did you ever feel so sad or hopeless almost every  day for two weeks or more?"

Question 29: "During the past 12 months, did you ever seriously consider attempting suicide?"

Question 30: "During the past 12 months, how many times did you actually attempt suicide?"

Question 31: "If you attempted suicide during the past 12 months, did any attempt result in an injury, poisoning, or overdose that had to be treated by a doctor or nurse?"

The Oregon 1999 Youth Risk Behavior Questions are available at - (PDF Download N/A Archive Link).

1. Questions Identifying Three Forms of Harassment:

Question 11: During the past 12 months, have you ever been harassed at school (or on the way to or from school) because of your race or ethnic origin?

Question 12: During the past 12 months, have you ever been harassed at school (or on the way to and from school) because someone thought your were gay, lesbian or bisexual?" Count given, not weighted. The weighted percentage is 7.9% for males harassed, as opposed to the "8.2%" raw percentage used, meaning that the generated statistical results are reasonably good approximations of what the results would be had the calculations been done using the data set.

Question 13: "During the past 12 months, have you received unwanted sexual comments or attention at school (or on your way to or from school?)"

2. Race / Ethnicity: For the calculation related to "race / ethnicity," results were generated by using the results for "white" males and male "of color." This latter group does not include the males (n = 152) who did not answer the question on race /ethnicity (Question 4), forming about ??? of the sample. Six of these males had attempted suicide and were not included in suicidality analyses based on race / ethnicity, such as the analysis of males who responded with a "yes" or a No" to the three harassment questions: Questions 11- 13. Male "of color" answered affirmatively to any of the following in Question 4: "How do you describe yourself? (Select one or more responses.) Am Indian / Alaska Native, Asian, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Native Hawaiian/other, Multiple - Hispanic, Multiple - Non-hispanic." White males answered affirmatively to the "White" option only. "A" = All Males, "W" = White Males, and "C" = Males Of Color.

3. Statistics: The Odd Ratios are calculated at a "95% Confidence Interval" from a two-by-two table which, in this case (Table 4a), consists of 199 suicide attempters / 1937 non-attempters in "harassed male" category and 162 suicide attempters / 7937 non-attempters in the "non-harassed" male category, producing an OR of 4.1<5.0<6.2. The Pearson's Chi Square value (X²) in this case indicates that the difference between the two paired values would be due to a chance event less than one time in 10,000: p = .0000. The Risk Ratio, also calculated at a "95% Confidence Internval," is the relationship between the suicide attempt incidence in the two categories. In Table 4b, the Odd Ratios and Risk Ratios are calculated on the basis of the multiple suicide attempters. In Table 4c, the calculations are based on the suicide attempters reporting having received medical attention related to their suicide attempt(s).

4. C vs. W: Comparing the Odds of attempting suicide for males of color and white males in the specified category to detemine if the difference would be statistically significant: p is less than or qual to .05.

Some Commentaries / Reports: GLB Individuals at High Risk for Suicide Problems.

On October 6, 1998, in a news item titled "UK 'Teachers bully gay pupils'" BBC News reported that some teachers abuse boys known (or believed) to be gay, thus creating and/or exacerbating problems - including suicide problems - for these adolescent. Anecdotal suicide-related information is given. (Alternate article link.) - A 1996 double lesbian youth suicide. 

Anti-Gay Bullying in Schools and Related to Suicide Problems

Schools accused of abandoning thousands of gay children to classroom bullies: Homophobic abuse is driving many pupils out of education, researchers say. (The Guardian, May 9, 2005): " "This sort of thing happened pretty much every day for 18 months," said the 15-year-old, who left school a year early because of the relentless bullying. "I often had chairs thrown at me in class and was kicked and punched in the corridor. It was something I just had to deal with." Steven, from Birmingham, is one of tens of thousands of gay pupils who have been forced to abandon their studies because of what campaigners describe as the "endemic" abuse of gay and lesbian pupils across the country. The gay rights group Stonewall estimates that more than 60,000 gay and lesbian pupils are victims of homophobic abuse that can range from name-calling to serious physical and sexual assaults..."

A survey of UK teachers has found a "deeply alarming" amount of homophobia in schools (2009). - FIT against homophobic bullying (2010): In an ongoing battle to tackle homophobic bullying in British schools, LGBT charity Stonewall will be sending every secondary school in Britain a copy of FIT, the first feature film for schools to tackle homophobic bullying.

Non-Normative Gender and Sexual Identities in Schools: An Exploration of the Experiences of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual (and (Transgender) Individuals in British Schools (Dissertation, 2008, Amy Macmillan, PDF, PDF): Yes, explicit queerphobic bullying needs to be challenged and we need pro-active and preventative anti-bullying campaigns, rather than isolated and inconsistent reactions to specifics events, but this needs to be accompanied by understandings of why this behaviour is wrong and why LGBT identities should not be marginalised or discriminated against. No more policy is needed, the framework is there, instead we need to look at how Safe to Learn (DCFS, 2007a [Safe to Learn: Embedding anti-bullying work in schools, PDF]) can be successfully integrated into schools antibullying cultures, how schools can learn from past failures by recognising and understanding the experiences of their past and current LGBT pupils and how cultural shifts can be encouraged to create an inclusive environment for everybody. - Homophobic bullying at the centre of election debate (2010): Labour have today revealed their election manifesto, which promises that more money will be invested in tackling homophobic bullying in schools and a commitment to compulsory "high quality" sex education if the party is returned to power. - An inclusive culture: challenging homophobic and sexist bullying (2010).

'Suicide wish' of gay bullying victims (07/18/00, BBC): "A large proportion of lesbian, gay and bisexual pupils who are bullied by their classmates try to commit suicide, according to research.  A study suggests that half of them contemplate killing or harming themselves, and four in 10 actually harm themselves at least once... The research also indicates that 17% - nearly one in five - display symptoms associated with post-traumatic stress disorder later in life... The findings by Dr Ian Rivers, of the College of Ripon and York St John, were being presented to The British Psychological Society's Lesbian and Gay Section Conference at the University of Surrey on Tuesday. " - Information related to research carried out by Ian Rivers.  - Summary of River's Research Related to Homophobic Bullying and its Long-Term Negative Effects N/A.

Dispelling the Myths by Chris Morris: "I was 15 when I decided to come out at school. The first step was pretty easy: I told a gossip who I knew would spread the word quickly. I knew he had finished when he joined the growing crowd and played his part in the macho performance - 'We don't like your sort!' As the insults turned into threats to my life, one teacher was heard sneering, 'Oh well, he did say he was a homo. What else did he expect?'" - Homophobia and heterosexism (2008): There are those who are overtly homophobic, those who are subtly homophobic and those who are perpetuating the problem without even realising it. Report investigates homophobic bullying in education. - British Teen Driven To Suicide Over Gay Taunts (2008) N/A: British police are investigating the suicide of a 14-year girl who had been subjected to constant bullying by classmates who called her a lesbian. The body of Belinda Allen was discovered by a man walking his dog in Southwater. Police said the teen had tied a scarf around her neck and hanged herself from a tree. It is not known if the girl identified as being gay but she had suffered taunting and bullying for more than a year friends said on Thursday.- 'Lesbian' jibes drive 14-yr-old to suicide (2008). - Girl is second pupil found hanged after suffering taunts by bullies (2008). - ‘This is why we need a GSA’ (2008).

Anti-gay bullies 'given free rein' (07/02/00, BBC): (Alternate Link) - "Homophobic abuse and bullying is rife in schools because teachers are inhibited by the law banning the promotion of homosexuality [by Clause 28], according to research from a leading educational institute. Confidential interviews with teachers have revealed that they choose to ignore the problem because of uncertainty regarding their legal position - so bullies feel they can act with impunity, the research suggests... Consequently gentle boys or 'tomboy' girls become targets.  'Boys struggle to avoid being called 'gay', 'poofta', 'bumboy', 'queer' or whatever the local term of abuse is,' said Dr Epstein." - Takling Homophobic Bullying: an issue for every teacher (2004, PDF Download. PDF Download.

Note: The reason given for ongoing anti-gay bullying - Clause 28 - may NOT be true. Teachers in Canada, US, Australia, and other countries all have a general history of ignoring - even encouraging - and sometimes participating in - anti-gay bullying of students, and especially students manifesting any behavior (usually gender non-conformity) or attitudes indicating / suggesting that they may NOT be heterosexual. Example: Teen sues school district over anti-gay harassment (Associated Press - 06/26/00):  "A 17-year-old northwestern Pennsylvania boy is suing a school district for failing to intervene with anti-gay harassment he said drove him to try to commit suicide... The lawsuit, brought June 8 in federal court in Erie, says Dahle realized he was gay or bisexual when he was in sixth grade. He claimed that since that time he was subjected to name-calling, obscene jokes and physical assaults. Dahle said in the suit that he reported the harassment to school administrators, but no one did anything to help."

He's Not A Freak, He's My Son: "After the tragic suicide of a 15 year old boy, taunted by homophobic bullies at school, a mother tells us HER story... He was about four years old when I first noticed he was different... He went on to say that it was because my son behaved DIFFERENTLY that he was being bullied. 'Some pupils seem to attract the bullies,' the teacher said. ' Your son doesn't behave like the other boys.' ...One thing that sticks in my mind more than anything is the day I saw a teenage boy point to me and say 'That's the 'FREAK'S' mother.'

Straight Talk - Newsletter of the Gay Men's Health Wiltshire and Swindon (2000) - "Try to imagine yourself as a young person going through the emotional turmoil of  puberty. Add to this the feelings of being different, or actually being attracted to    people of the same sex. All your life you have been told that gay men are perverted and are the object of ridicule. How do you feel? You can’t change what you are feeling inside, so what can you do?"

For information about adolescent suicidality as related to anti-gay harassment, see Bagley C, D'Augelli A (2000). Suicidal behaviour in gay, lesbian, and bisexual youth (Editorial). British Medical Journal, 320, 1617-8 (Full Text).
 

A Similar Anti-Gay School / Society Situation In Australia.

What do they think? Queerly raised and queer-friendly students - by Maria Pallotta-Chiarolli (Youth Studies Australia, 19(4), 2000 (December): 34-40. Abstract: "Homophobia and heterosexism still rule in most classrooms and playgrounds although an increasing number of children and young people are being raised to be queer friendly. Maria Pallotta-Chiarolli discusses the insights of primary and secondary queer friendly students into the questions of why homophobia is still an issue among student populations; what kind of anti-homophobic strategies work; what strategies and approaches are required; and what they believe their role is in a whole-school approach to homophobia and heteronormativity."

Book shows how homophobia starts in the schoolyard (New Release 11/11/99, University of Maryland): "In primary school, boys are likely to be accused of being a poofter if they mix with girls too often, and accused of the same thing in high school if they don't mix with them enough... homophobia peaks in the mid to late teens, with boys in years 8 and 9 reporting that they use the word 'poofter' 25 to 50 times a day. These attitudes, he said, were often an exaggerated expression of heterosexual identity, and thus effected everyone... Boys who aren't targeted by others observe what goes on and make sure they don't do anything that might be considered suspect or that would make them stand out. Masculine behaviours are exaggerated and these lead to all sorts of lifestyle and risk behaviours which endure later in life... At the furthest behaviour extreme were gay-hate murders, with some research suggesting that as many as one in four murders involving strangers in New South Wales over the last 20 years were in some way related to homophobia.

Flood M, Hamilton C (2005). Mapping Homophobia in Australia. Australia: The Australia Institute for a Just, sustainable, Peaceful Future (PDF)... The effects of homophobia on young people are especially worrying as harassment and violence against same-sex attracted youth (SSAY) can scar them for life. According to a recent study, SSAY in Australia account for between five and 11 per cent of the relevant population. It has been estimated that they are six times more likely to attempt suicide than the population as a whole. Homophobic attitudes and behaviours have been shown to be prevalent in schools, putting SSAY at risk of discrimination, victimisation and violence. According to one study:

… the place at which the abuse was most likely to occur was school (69%) with boys more likely to be abused there than girls (81% vs 53%). The streets were the second most likely place of abuse (47%) followed by social (34%) and sporting events (9%). … Fifty nine percent of those who had been verbally or physically abused named other students as the perpetrators. Added to this, 10% named friends, some of whom were also likely to be school students. - Reference: Lynne Hillier et al., Writing Themselves In: A National Report on the Sexuality, Health and Well-Being of Same-Sex attracted Young People, Melbourne, Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health & Society, Latrobe University, 2002 [PDF]. See also NSW Teachers Federation, Education Online: Creating safe and supportive environments, 2003. http://www.nswtf.org.au/edu_online/51/createsafe.html. [See:Writing Themselves in Again 6 years on, 2005, PDF, Download Page]. Related Article: Student gay bashing rife, says report (2005). - Coming out getting easier for gay teenagers (2005). Summary of the Hillier et al. (2005) study in the National LGBT Health Alliance Submission (2009, PDF): Hiller et al. concluded from their Australian survey of the health and wellbeing of same-sex attracted young people, that the high prevalence of family and peer rejection, harassment, and bullying fuelled feelings of isolation, self-loathing and shame - all of which have been shown to substantially increase vulnerability to suicide and self-harm. Specific findings of the study included that: • over half the respondents had been verbally or physically abused because of their sexuality; • school was the place where most of that abuse took place; and • the majority of respondents felt unsafe in many different environments including school, at home and in the community. The levels of violence experienced by same-sex attracted young people increased between 1998 and 2005, escalating in schools particularly.

Speaking Out: Stopping Homophobic and Transphobic Abuse in Queensland - 2010 - by Alan Berman & Shirleene Robinson.

Based on the largest survey of gay, lesbian, bisexual, intersex, transgender and queer reactions to violence and harassment ever undertaken in Australia, this book gives voice to the many victims who have suffered in the state once recognised as Australia's most homophobic. It tells of the barriers people face in dealing with the legal system, the reasons why some do not report their experiences , and the complex historical, religious and educational factors affecting the perpetuation of homophobia across the country. Most importantly it provides a roadmap forward for all Australian legislative, policing, and judicial jurisdictions via a wide ranging set of recommendations, from the individual's understanding of their rights and responsibilities, to the responses of police, legal professionals and judicial officers.

Comparable countries are dealing with homophobia in schools much more effectively than we are. While we have good work happening across disparate sectors, we need to anchor these initiatives and focus this work with strong campaigns in the education sector. Working with the education sector, the health sector, as well as human rights and equal opportunity initiatives and the justice system is imperative. We need to generate multiple leverage points for positive social change in this area. The development of a Safe Schools Coalition is an appropriate and effective implementation of this approach. It will allow a range of organizations and interest groups to work towards a clear and irrefutable goal - a young person’s right to a safe and inclusive education. This will include inviting young people to actively shape school culture, strategies and policies around sexual diversity and challenging homophobia... The basic tenet of the Australian education system is that all young people have the right to be educated in an  environment in which they feel safe and valued. Research shows that the reality is quite different. School is an unsupportive and unsafe place for many young people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT), or who are either perceived to be LGBT or challenge heterosexist norms .

The homophobia expressed towards boys who do not ‘measure up’ to dominant forms of masculinity is frequently related to their similarity to girls, and commonly in terms derogatory to females (Epstein, 1997: Kenway & Willis, 1998: Lees. 1997). Drawing upon what Lees (1993) identifies as a “vocabulary of abuse,” these boys are, for example, commonly labelled and referred to as: “sissies,” “girls,” “poofs,” “poofters,” “faggots,” “fags,” “bumboys,” and “Nancyboys.” Essentially. engagement with these homophobic practices -  along with other normalising techniques of surveillance - are clearly used by boys to enhance their heterosexual masculine reputation, and to police the boundaries of acceptable male behaviour and identity as well as homosexual behaviour (see Jordan, 1995: Kessler et al., 1985: Mac An Ghaill, 1994: Mahony, 1989: Martino, 1995a, 1995b, 1995c, 1995d, 2000a, 2000b, 2000c, 2000d: Martino & Frank, 2006: Nayak & Kehily, 1996, 1997: Redman & Mac An Ghaill, 1996: Skeggs, 1991: Stanley, 1986: Stanworth, 1983). Clearly, to resist dominant codes of masculinity within the school site, and more specifically within the classroom, is a precarious business - it is to risk being labelled “gay.” Given this, boys are, as Nayak & Kehily (1996) suggest, encouraged to “perform their gendered identities in particular ways to survive the prospect of homophobic abuse” (p. 216) and to cultivate a “hyper-hetero sexual identity” (p. 212). As is later demonstrated in this paper, the use of heterosexist language practices serves as a tool in the achievement of this masculinist identity.   

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